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Free Navy ambush near Mars
|place = Sol system: *vicinity of Mars |name = Free Navy ambush near Mars |result = Free Navy victory *Prime minister Nathan Smith escapes onboard Razorback *Free Navy break off from MCRN fleet and give chase to Razorback until it was out of range. |side1 = Martian Congressional Republic |side2 = Free Navy |commanders1 = Captain Choudhary (flagship C.O.) Nathan Smith (MCR prime minister) |commanders2 = Marcos Inaros |forces1 = MCRN Home fleet: *MCRN Flotilla **1✕ battleship **escort ships Razorback |forces2 = Decoy fleet: *''Andreas Hofer'' *8✕ ships "Relief" fleet: *''Pella'' *''Chetzemoka'' *5✕ ships |casual1 = *2✕ ships surrender *battleship damaged and boarded |casual2 = Several boarders killed }} , chapter 31}} The Free Navy ambush near Mars was a part of the opening offensive by the Free Navy against the Sol powers beginning the Free Navy Conflict. This part of the offensive was an attempt to disablise the Martian Congressional Republic by assasinating the Prime Minister. Events The MCR Prime minister left Mars on-board a capital ship for a diplomatic meeting with the United Nations at Luna. During this time within the vicinity Alex Kamal and Bobbie Draper took the racing pinnace Razorback out to investigate missing ships that they believed may be found by a Hungaria group asteroidThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 17 - Alex. When they were a couple of hundred klicks out from Hungaria they noticed that there was a ship pointing a targeting laser at them. Attempts were made to communicate with the unindentified ship. At this point they realized that they were looking at nine Martian shipsThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 20 - Alex. The ships then fired two torpedoes at the Razorback which turned and flew away as fast as it could at high-G. As fast as the Razorback could go it would not outrun the missiles forever. At this point Bobbie pointed out to Alex the nearby MCRN fleet transporting the Prime minister. The Razorback moved towards the MCRN fleet increasing its burn despite the severe pressure of the High-G the two were experiencing. There was no way they could reach the flotilla before the missiles would catch them, but getting within the missile defense range was just barely possible. They sent emergency signals and were sustaining 15-Gs when the MCRN flotilla sent fast-movers to intercept the missiles. Alex knew however that the lead missile would hit Razorback before they could be saved and he vented the pinnace's fusion core as the lead missile got within four thousand kilometers a moment before blacking out. The vented core destroyed the first missile whilst the MCRN fast-movers destroyed the second missile a moment laterThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 20 - Alex. The ships the Razorback had discovered had been waiting for the MCRN flotilla to get close and were forced to begin their attack twenty seven minutes earlyThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 21 - Naomi. This fleet was actually a decoy intended to draw off the majority of the escort for the Prime ministers ship leaving only two frigates as a guard. A relief fleet of six ships was sent to reinforce the flotillaThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 27 - Alex. Unknown to the MCRN this relief fleet of martian ships were actually under the control of the Free Navy. With Bobbie and Alex unconscious on-board the adrift Razorback the Martian flotilla collected the ship and placed in into the hangar of the flagship. Alex and Bobbie were removed and whilst unconscious from the extreme high-G Alex had to undergo a surgery on an ulcer involving a reconstructing a stem graftThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 27 - Alex. The Razorback was refueled and Bobbie debriefed before she would meetup with Alex in a debriefing room. It was here that they met with Prime Minister Nathan Smith who questioned them as to what happened and why they were seeking missing ships. Both of them would be debriefed and questioned over the next several hours as to these eventsThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 27 - Alex. Bobbie was then sent to receive a new Goliath powered armor suit as she was a serviceman in the Martian Marine Corps. The fleet that had attacked the Razorback was still engaged with the escort ships and withdrawing, but not retreating. The escort fleet was following but avoiding directly engaging unless it got close to the Prime minister's shipThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 27 - Alex. Meanwhile the relief fleet was getting close to the flotilla although the MCRN believed that they were crewed by completely green Martian crewsThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 31 - Alex. It was at this point that the relief fleet fired upon the flotilla catching the Martians completely off-guard. General quarter were called and Alex and Bobbie strapped into crash couches whilst the ships performed evasive maneuvers and fired its PDCs and missiles. The flagships drive was hit and thrust gravity was lost leaving the ship at zero-G although it was still able to perform thrust maneuvers. The Free Navy ships ceased firing and began a boarding action. Three marines led by Lieutenant de Haaz reached Bobbie and Alex and escorted them to the bridge. On the bridge they found the ships C.O. Captain Choudhary and the Prime minister. Here they learned that the ship was in a bad situation with the comms array unable to transmit, hull breaches near the armory aft storage and engineeringThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 31 - Alex. The decoy fleet ceased withdrawing and launched a concentrated attack on the original escort fleet preventing them from returning to the flotilla. The Captain ordered Bobbie and Alex to take the Prime minister onboard the Razorback and escape at high-G. At this point Naomi Nagata being held captive onboard the Pella was able to send a warning signal out to be sent to James Holden. In this message her location was discovered, but also identified the command ship Pella''s name. Bobbie was sent to be equipped with her new Goliath powered armor whilst Alex and the Prime minister were escorted by four Marines to the hangar bay and the ''Razorback. At one hallway intersection they were ambushed by two boarders. The hostiles were belters, but wore Martian light armor. They were pinned down, but were eventually the hostiles were killed when Bobbie arrived wearing her Goliath powered armor. Three of their escort marines had been incapacitated or killed in the ambush, and they were reinforced by Bobbie and four new marinesThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 34 - Alex. Upon reaching the hangar bay the flight chief gave Alex and Nathan Smith environmental suits and they entered the Razorback. Bobbie wearing her Force Recon armor was too large for her couch so ripped it out and entered. The hangar doors opened whilst still at half atmosphere and the Razorback flew out the gap at four and a half G speed under cover of the battleship's PDC fire. The battleship then fired its nearly ninety missiles remaining which were assigned to the Razorback''s comm laser frequency so that the missiles could be used as a defensive shieldThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 34 - Alex. Once they received some breathing room they dropped to one-G. Meanwhile the original escort fleet engaged with the Free Navy decoy fleet had two of its ships surrenderingThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 36 - Holden. By this point this fleet had become to far away from the main flotilla to have any further effect on the main battle. The ''Razorback flew sunward towards Earth where a UN escort fleet was burning to incept them. Four ships of the false relief fleet moved to engage Razorback led by the Pella firing the occasional PDC burst and missiles to no affect. Each them they fired a weapon the Razorback would thrust to a different vector and/or use one of its accompanying missiles. The two remaining ships remained at the MCRN flagship to continue the assault. Category:Events Category:Conflicts and Confrontations